Eva Mendes has come to Ryan Gosling's defence following his Oscars nomination for best supporting actor in Barbie.
If you're wondering why an A-lister actor needed defending in the first place, it's because people reacted quite weirdly to Ryan's casting as the principal Ken in last summer's blockbuster. Some felt he was too old for the role, and others didn't love his transformation into the plastic doll, and journalists made these opinions known via a slew of articles at the time.
As such, Eva took to Instagram to share a bunch of screenshots of critical articles after the Oscars noms were announced, writing, "So proud of my man. So much hate when he took on this role. So many people trying to shame him for doing it. Despite all the #Notmyken ridicule and articles written about him, he created this completely original, hilarious,heartbreaking, now iconic character and took it all the way to Oscars.
"So beyond proud to be this Ken’s Barbie"
In the comments, celebs including Bella Thorne, Hannah Waddingham and Padma Lakshmi backed Eva up.
Importantly, Ryan's Barbie costar America Ferrera, who was also nominated for her role, commented: "He is brilliant as Ken! Pulled off a triple somersault performance! We’re so lucky it was him and I’m so grateful for the way he showed up with his super stardom, and continues to show up to support all the women in this process!! He is a class act and insanely deserving and talented."
Tempering Ryan's celebration over being nominated is also the uproar over Barbie director Greta Gerwig and star/producer Margot Robbie being "snubbed" in their respective categories.
The Ken actor even issues a statement expressing his disappointment, writing: "No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I'm disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement."
As for Eva and Ryan, who are a typically discreet celeb couple, they've been expressing their support for each other a bit more loudly in recent weeks, and it's been lovely to see.
